Germany: Anti-Militarism Conference – clarity in times of upheaval

On 22 and 23 March, the Anti-Militarism Conference organised by the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) – the German section of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) – was held in Berlin. 180 communists took part from Germany, as well as guests from the sections of the Revolutionary Communist International in Britain, the USA, Canada, Switzerland and Austria.

[Originally published in German at derkommunist.de]

The conference was the culmination of the RKP's months-long anti-militarism campaign, in which all of our comrades thoroughly studied Lenin's analysis of imperialism and its application to the present day. Throughout the campaign, we have emphasised the role of imperialism – and especially German imperialism – in our newspaper, at demonstrations and in all our other activities.

At the conference, 14 high-quality talks were given on imperialism, war and world perspectives, answering the burning questions of today. As well as this, a particularly well-received series of talks on the foundations of Marxism were used to consolidate our new membership, which has doubled in the last 1.5 years.

Not a day without political bombshells... and real ones

Since the founding of the RKP in November, the German liberal establishment's darkest nightmares have come true. With a snap of his fingers, Donald Trump has blithely cancelled the West’s ‘rules-based’ world order, which is tantamount to a death sentence for German imperialism.

The representatives of the ruling class in Berlin are now running around like headless chickens, desperately looking for a way out of the deep crisis of German capitalism, which is entering its third year of recession.

In his presentation on world perspectives on Saturday, Francesco Merli – a member of the International Secretariat of the RCI – outlined the contours of the political shocks resulting from the relative decline of US imperialism and the rise of its imperialist rivals China and Russia.

As the US focuses on heavyweight China and turns its back on declining Europe, the Europeans are forced to make a frantic 180-degree turn and embark on their biggest debt-financed militarisation campaign since the fall of the Berlin Wall. However, this desperate attempt to position Europe as a world power will only deepen the crisis in the individual European countries. A look at the current movements in Serbia, Greece and Turkey, which were raised in the discussion, give us a flavour of the period to come.

The talks at the conference focussed primarily on German imperialism, addressing the key issues facing the youth today: the question of the struggle for democratic rights; the role of pacifism particularly regarding the war on Gaza; the communist position on imperialist wars; a class analysis of the Ukraine war; how trade unions should fight against war and others.

Sacrifice and inspiration

Comrades’ questions about the nature of fascism, the possibility of a third world war and other topics, testify to our young membership's revolutionary thirst for knowledge. This was also demonstrated by the fact that we were able to sell €2000-worth of Marxist literature! With 180 books sold, comrades bought an average of one book each.

Another highlight was the fundraising event on Saturday evening. After an inspiring appeal for donations by Michele Rocco Troccolo from the RKP’s Executive Committee, comrades smashed our fundraising target of €10,000 and pledged over €16,000! In the end, there was an inspiring and humorous competition between two branches for the highest pledge.

While our ‘left’ critics denounce the RKP for asking our comrades for high membership fees, we see the financial sacrifice of our comrades as a strength and a sign of our firm conviction to achieve communism in our lifetimes.

Our comrades Adrian, Alyona and Leonard, who have been tried in court for using the slogan ‘Intifada until victory’, gave a short and militant report on the status of their trials before the fundraiser.

We can celebrate a partial victory on this front, because the charges against our comrade Adrian have been dropped by the public prosecutor's office! The public prosecutor's office has had to admit in their statement that their charges were far-fetched. The cry ‘Yallah Intifada, Intifada until victory’ is therefore not punishable by law, which is a victory for the entire Palestine movement, which is being harassed and demonised in Germany in particular.

As Adrian said, we will not be cowed and will consistently stand alongside our class to expose the hypocrisy of the rulers and unite the most progressive elements of the working class in our ranks. The fight goes on: Alyona and Leonard are still facing trial at the second level of jurisdiction. That is why we are continuing to raise money from the movement to pay legal costs.

Sinking ship

At the end of the conference, Alexander Kalabekow from the RKP Executive Committee gave a talk on German perspectives.

The German capitalist class is 100 percent to blame for the current crisis. For many years they have carelessly lived off the fat of Germany’s industrial strength, refusing to invest in industry and channeling state money and cheap loans into speculation rather than production. Now they are handing the working class the bill for the country’s poor industrial competitiveness.

The permanent crisis that followed from the financial crisis of 2008 has been the breeding ground for the European offshoots of the Trump phenomenon in the form of ‘right-wing populist’ parties such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which doubled its result in the early federal elections in February.

Depraved German capitalism owes its existence to the reformist leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the trade unions. In the name of the working class, they carry out the policies of the ruling class and thwart the trade union movement at every turn in order to preserve ‘social peace’ with the bosses and shareholders, instead of waging a consistent struggle against capital.

The coming austerity regime under Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) makes no secret of the fact that they will massively attack the welfare state in order to reduce the mountain of debt they have recently accrued.

In a historic decision, the CDU, Greens and SPD – using their relative parliamentary weight in the old Bundestag, which was voted out of office in February – have voted through a debt package of €500 billion for infrastructure and relaxed the constitutional limits on state debt – the ‘debt brake’ – for state defence spending above one percent of GDP! The government now plans to spend an additional €400 billion on militarism.

Scandalously, the left-wing reformist party Die Linke has supported this sell-out in the Bundesrat, even though its votes would not have been necessary!

An appeal to Die Linke

Die Linke achieved a remarkable election success earlier this year and gained tens of thousands of new members with its militant tone and its demands against rearmament, austerity and the right. Heidi Reichinnek – member of the Bundestag for Die Linke – went viral with a speech in the Bundestag in which she called on people to ‘take to the barricades’. In doing so, the party raised the hopes of millions of young people who want to fight.

But as soon as the new Bundestag opened, Die Linke abandoned the rhetoric of its election campaign, in order to present itself to the established parties as a reliable, ‘statesmanlike’ partner – as was made abundantly clear in Gregor Gysi's opening speech as longest-serving member of the Bundestag. Die Linke is a mass organisation that could really make a difference in the situation if it decides to fight.

That is why the Anti-Militarism Conference unanimously adopted an appeal to Die Linke. The participants of the conference call on the party leadership to mobilise its grassroots members and voters en masse in order to implement the demands of its election programme against rearmament and austerity. This struggle can only be successfully waged on the streets, in working class neighbourhoods and in the workplace, not through parliamentary and legal manoeuvres. The former would be absolutely possible, because Die Linke’s base of support is burning to take action.

We, the participants of the Anti-Militarism Conference, would enthusiastically support every step from Die Linke in this direction and participate in such a mass movement as the RKP with our own Marxist and revolutionary programme. We invite all members and voters of Die Linke to read our appeal and discuss it with us.

Neither laugh, nor cry, but understand

Many of our ‘left’ critics accuse us of being ‘too optimistic’. For obvious reasons, large sections of the ‘left’, particularly in Germany, fear fascism and predict a long period of reaction.

What they completely omit from their calculations, however, is the movement of the working class. If you scratch beneath the surface, you will find not the embryo of a fascist mass movement in Germany, but a concentrated class hatred against the entire capitalist system.

With every attack by capital, with every experience of injustice, oppression and marginalisation, more and more people will conclude that it is not this or that aspect of capitalism that is rotten, but capitalism as a whole.

We will accompany our class in this long process and organise all fighters who want to break with the system and dedicate their lives to building the revolutionary party.

It is the unadulterated ideas of Marxism as expressed by Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky and Ted Grant which give us a compass in the midst of political earthquakes; which protect us from being blinded by superficial appearances; and which allow us to take a clear, working class, revolutionary standpoint.